Fort McMurray Brew Pub Faces Enormous Cleanup Job

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — On May 3, patrons at the Wood Buffalo Brewing Company on downtown Fort McMurray's main drag had to leave their pints and plates on the table as a massive forest fire breached the city and everyone had to flee.

Bryan Newell, a project manager with the restoration company PuroClean, said it was an eerie scene when crews first got into the establishment to clean things up.

"It was kind of unnerving because there was food left on plates,'' he said. "It was left just as it was when they evacuated.''

The company, which calls itself the "the paramedics of property damage,'' had about a dozen workers on site Friday tearing into the mammoth job of getting the bar back up to snuff.

"It was left just as it was when they evacuated."

Spoiled food needed to be chucked out and dishes, utensils, pots and pans sanitized. Workers were replacing soot-damaged insulation. Beer kegs were piled out front.

Once the insulation has dried in a few days, it will be painted black. Then, the plastic sheeting will come down and the whole place will get a good wipe-down.

How long until the pub is serving up pitchers again will depend on how long the boil-water advisory remains in effect, but Newell expects to hand the place back over to its owner by next Wednesday.

Erlin Rivera wheels supplies past fans as he works to clean a pub in Fort McMurray. (Photo: Jason Franson/CP)

Eric McCrae, who own a construction business in Chilliwack, B.C., has been hired by the pub's insurance company to make sure everything is top shape and that the final bill matches up with the work that's being done.

He has no idea when he'll be able to get back home as he moves from job to job in the city.

"It could be a month, a couple of months. It could be six months. I really don't know,'' he said.

"This is my ninth day and I've been working minimum 15 hours a day. First day was 20 hours, a long day ... The only break I'm going to get is when it's all finished.''

"It could be six months. I really don't know."

Down the road, another restoration company was tackling the Boomtown Casino. Bright green fencing has been erected around the building.

Across from the casino, Ramona Morrison was busy getting the Smitty's restaurant she owns back up and running.

The featured pie is pecan, according to the specials written in marker on a whiteboard. But Morrison isn't expecting to be able to host any diners for another two weeks at least.

Workers put out markers around a destroyed area of Timberlea in Fort McMurray. (Photo: Jason Franson/CP)

Morrison was able to get back into her restaurant on Wednesday, when the city's downtown re-opened.

"Everything has to be thrown out and we'll restock from scratch on inventory and so on and getting our staff back from across Alberta and B.C.,'' she said.

"I wasn't sure what I was going to find. However, the conditions are better than I had thought.

Police man a roadblock as smoke billows in the background from a wildfire near Fort McMurray, Alta.
Displaced residents had a chance to see their burned city for the first time in a convoy that moved evacuees south to reunite with family and friends.

New images of what the neighbourhoods look like now after the wildfire swept through are simply haunting.

Officials said shifting winds were giving the embattled northern Alberta city a break, but they added the fire that forced 80,000 people from their homes remained out of control and was likely to burn for weeks.

The remains of a vehicle sit in a Fort McMurray neighbourhood destroyed by wildfire.

Evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfires register at the evacuation centre in Lac La Biche, Alta. on May 5, 2016. Premier Rachel Notley said returning home "will not be a matter of days."

Volunteers load water for Fort McMurray evacuees.
Labatt Breweries is donating 200,000 cans of water to help firefighters and victims in the area.

More than 1,200 firefighters, 110 helicopters, 295 pieces of heavy equipment and 27 air tankers are battling wildfires, the province announced on Friday.

A truck drives away from the Fort McMurray area. The ever-changing, volatile situation frayes the nerves of residents and officials alike as a massive wildfire continues to bear down on northern Alberta.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced the government will provide cash to help wildfire evacuees with immediate needs.

Evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfires rest at the evacuation centre in Lac La Biche, Alta. on May 5, 2016.

In some neighbnourhoods, charred foundations of homes and vehicles are all that remain.

The charred remains of a bus sit on the side of a road in Fort McMurray on May 5, 2016.
More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray, in the heart of Canada's oil sands as a wildfire that has devastated the area exploded in size.

Evacuees leave oilsands camps in a massive convoy of 1,500 vehicles in the early morning of May 6, 2016 after being stranded north due to the wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta.

A Mountie surveys the damage on a Fort McMurray street.
Over 1,600 structures in the area have been destroyed by the wildfire.

In just one day, generous Albertans donated over 600 plastic kennels to help transport pets out of the Fort McMurray wildfire evacuation zone.
"Thank you to everyone who helped us meet this goal in such a short amount of time," wrote the Calgary Humane Society in a release. "We are truly grateful."
Sadly, many Fort McMurray owners were forced to leave their beloved pets behind.

25,000 feet above Fort McMurray on May 3, 2016.

A swing set stands, with the swings burned away in Fort McMurray.

Firefighters take their first break after fighting the Fort McMurray blaze for over 30 hours.

Fort McMurray is obscured under a massive cloud of smoke and ash on May 3, 2016. About 88,000 people are estimated to have been forced out of the Fort McMurray area due to the wildfire.

A family of evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfires arrive at an evacuation centre in Edmonton.

A police officer wears a mask while controlling a roadblock near a wildfire in Fort McMurray on May 5, 2016.

A wildfire moves towards the town of Anzac from Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016. Alberta declared a state of emergency as crews frantically held back wind-whipped wildfires.

Alberta Wildrose Leader Brian Jean talks with police near the wildfire in Fort McMurray. Jean learned Tuesday he had lost his home in the blaze.

Video captured on a vehicle's dash cameras show the terrifying escape route evacuees faced as an out-of-control wildfire swept through Fort McMurray, Alta.

Michel Chamberland, who recorded the horrifying dash cam footage of his escape from Fort McMurray, is pictured in Edmonton.

An Alberta sheriff sits in a roadblock on Highway 63 as a massive plume of smoke rises over Fort McMurray.

Evacuees watch the wildfire near Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016. The fire has affected many people from the Maritimes who work in northern Alberta.

A bus waits to transfer Fort McMurray evacuees from Anzac to Edmonton.

Cots litter the gym floor at an evacuee reception centre set up and operated by the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in Anzac, Alta., on May 4, 2016. A wildfire has put the entire region of around 88,000 people under a mandatory evacuation order.

Dan Crane and Elisha Car take refuge in a work truck after being evacuated from Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016.
The Alberta government is matching donations to the Red Cross for those affected by the wildfire.

A picture provided by Twitter user @TechDeckSafety shows the wildfire seen from an airplane leaving Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016. Click here for more photos.

A helicopter battles a wildfire in Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016. The wildfire has already torched 1,600 structures in the evacuated oil hub of Fort McMurray and is poised to renew its attack in another day of scorching heat and strong winds.

Social workers at the Edmonton Food Bank fill a vehicle with supplies for Fort McMurray evacuees.

A picture provided by Twitter user @jeromegarot shows burnt trees after a wildfire raged through Fort McMurray on Highway 63 to Edmonton.

An evacuee puts gas in his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a wildfire burns in the background on May 4, 2016.

A family of evacuees camp out on their van at a beach south of Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016.

Dale Kossey with his three dogs Elmo, Gizmo, and Lacey rests in the pet owners' area of the reception centre at an evacuee reception centre set up and operated by the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in nearby Anzac, Alta. on May 4, 2016.

Traffic is at a standstill on Highway 63 as people continue to leave Fort McMurray on May 4, 2015.

A picture provided by Twitter user @jeromegarot show the wildfire raging through Fort McMurray on May 3, 2016.

Flames move towards the Sawridge Inn Hotel in Fort McMurray.

A family takes refuge in the back of their boat after evacuation at a rest stop near Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016.

The Fort McMurray hospital managed to safely move all 105 patients, along with patients' families and staff, to Edmonton.

Evacuees from Fort McMurray wait to hear when they will be let back in, at a rest stop near Fort McMurray on May 4, 2016.

Shell Canada shut down production at a nearby oilsands mining operation to allow employees to leave the region safely.
The move also makes room for evacuees to stay at the work camp.

Flames burn alongside the highway near the Syncrude oil site on May 3.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued for the city of Fort McMurray, with a population of 70,000, on May 3, 2016, as a wildfire entered city limits.

Fort McMurray resident Chris Burrows told CBC News he has his neighbour and girlfriend to thank for saving his life.
Burrows was asleep when he heard his neighbour at the door.
"He said, 'Look out your back window.' [I] looked out the back of the patio, and within 200 metres I saw flames that were 100 metres high," Burrows told CBC.

Videos captured the apocalyptic scene as 80,000 residents fled from Fort McMurray after a massive wildfire entered the city.

A wall of fire rages outside of Fort McMurray, which prompted the evacuation of the entire city.

Evacuees from the wildfires in and around Fort McMurray hug at the evacuation centre at the Edmonton Expo Centre in Edmonton on May 4, 2016.

Wildrose Party leader and MLA for Fort McMurray-Conklin Brian Jean confirmed that his house was one of many burned as an out-of-control wildfire entered Fort McMurray.

Days after reopening from a blaze that destroyed the interior of its main location, an Alberta gelato shop pitched in to help those affected by the Fort McMurray wildfire.

The sky above Fort McMurray on May 3.

The view from the Fort McMurray airport on May 2, 2016.

Students from Fort McMurray Composite High School are released early as wildfire burns nearby on May 3, 2016.

An aerial photo of the fire.

On May 1, 2016, a large wildfire was spotted burning just outside of Fort McMurray.
Within two days, the wildfire had more than doubled in size to over 2,600 hectares.

A Fort McMurray resident captured this video of the fire from their rooftop.

Air tankers responded to the fire to support the ground crew's effort.

The wildfire is seen from MacDonald Island Park near Fort McMurray, May 3, 2016.

Abandoned vehicles line Highway 63 south of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Evacuees fled with few possessions and often ran out of gas before they could make it to the next town hundreds of kilometres away. The fire has been blazing for seven days and covers more than 150,000 hectares - twice the size of Calgary.

Helicopters carry water bombs from a nearby lake to drop on the wildfire near Fort McMurray. The blaze has grown so big in scale that one firefighter likened the effort to spitting on a campfire.

Crews continue to control the blaze using water bombs near Highway 63, just south of Fort McMurray.